Pie Charts with More Than Four Slices

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Rationale

The VIZYUL™ Pie Charts with More Than Four Slices best practice rule is pretty straight forward.

Insight

Consider this, the human eye can perceive many different colors.  However, distinguishing many different shades of color in objects in the same object becomes exponentially more difficult.  Not sure this is true?  Tell me how many colors are in the pie chart below.  LOL..okay, that’s an unfair example, but I think you get the point.

Many Colored Pie Chart

 

Tableau built-in color palettes don’t extend beyond 20 different colors because it’s challenging for us to distinguish between them.  Making it nearly impossible for us to accurately assess what an object with that many colors wants us to glean.  Because of this reality, we recommend considering how may slices and colors are used in pie charts.

 

Action

  • Consider restricting pie charts to no more than 6 slices and different colors.
  • Consider the additional resources below

Additional Resources

  • http://www.theinformationlab.co.uk/2015/01/06/show-pie-charts/
  • http://tblsft.com/public/community/best-practices/pie-chart
  • https://eagereyes.org/techniques/pie-charts